Critique my Chocolate Oatmeal Stout Recipe

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Fryrish

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I am putting together my first Recipie for all grain ( I have done 2 batches of all grain but from Northern Brewer Kits.) I want to give an oatmeal stout a shot since it is one of my favorite winter styles. So here is what i was thinking:

Grain Bill:

9# MO
1# Flaked Oats
12 Oz Crystal 60
12 Oz Pale Choc Malt
8 Oz Roasted Barley

Mash at 155-156F for 60min, Batch sparge at 170F.

Boil:

6 Oz unsweetened bakers chocolate at 60 min
1oz EKG hops at 60 min

Ferment for 2-3 weeks at 65-68F with 1056.

I want this to end up around 1.020 so it is sweet but not cloyingly sweet. I want the chocolate to be apparent but not the star of the show. And I would like opinions on using a neutral ale yeast in an oatmeal stout.
 
Based on the mash temperature and yeast selection you are probably looking at 73% attenuation. What's your OG estimate? You might consider Wlp004 or 002. both are pretty neutral at the low end of their temperature range.
 
1.055 is my estimate if i get 70% efficiency which is in the ballpark for my system(? i am still dialing it in) will the irish ale yeast add any charecter or is it fairly neutral?
 
WLP004 tastes very neutral to me when fermented in the suggested range. The main difference I see is that it doesn't attenuate as much as most yeasts, and likes cooler temps. switching to the Irish Ale yeast would probably get you closer to the 1.020 you are looking for. Although with the yeast you picked you'll likely stop at about 1.015 which still will have a good amount of maltyness to it.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. im going to go around to some local breweries and see if i cant get a little of thier yeast in a container i just happened to have on me and sanitized :) . thats the main reason i picked a neutral ale yeast because i know at least 3 of my local brewers use that for some beers. what do you think about the chocolate in the recipie? Am I close to what I want with those additions or will it overpower?
 
I've never done the chocolate in the beer, just chocolate malt. Your recipe looks very similar to what I am brewing this weekend with the exception of the chocolate.
 
The grain bill looks great. My only thoughts are to toast the flaked oats (350 degree oven for 20-45 minutes, or until done), and maybe add the chocolate at two different times (30 and 10 perhaps). Ive had pretty cool results adding chocolate at different times.
 
what will toasting the oats do to the final product? more biscuty flavor? maltier?

EDIT:

I also want to ask if i am going to have trouble sparging with the oats in the mash. what do you guys think?
 
Fryrish said:
what will toasting the oats do to the final product? more biscuty flavor? maltier?

EDIT:

I also want to ask if i am going to have trouble sparging with the oats in the mash. what do you guys think?

It will provide another layer of flavor, roast kind of flavor. Use half to one pound of rice hulls in the mash, shouldnt have any sparge issues.
 
do you guys thiink nottingham ale yeast would do well or is it too highly attinuative for what im going for?
 
You def want to add your chocolate towards the end of your boil. I would say about 15 left add it. That won't give you a over powering taste but a nice suttle chocolate flavor.
 
For all who are subscribed:

I brewed this stout yesterday and stepped up the grain bill to make 6gal instead of 5. I went with 1oz Goldings as FWH and 1oz at 60 min. I staggered my Chocolate additions to 40 and 20 mins, each addition was 3 oz unsweetened bakers chocolate. For the yeast I went with US05 for no real reason than I didnt want to make a starter on this particular day and my LHBS was out of Windsor.

(A tip to anyone adding choc to their boil, make sure you melt the chocolate before you add it so it does not sink and burn on the bottom of the kettle. What I did is I ran some boiling wort out of the kettle and mixed it in a Pyrex measuring cup with each choc addition.)

Notes on the Brew day:

I hit my mash temp right on the nose and mashed for 60min. I thought I had accounted for grain and dead space loss properly but it appears I did not. I collected 6.5gal of wort to boil out of my 2 batch sparge which left me at about 5 gal post boil/cool. I was also about 10pts over on my gravity and if I would have thought fast enough I would have added 1 more gallon of water to get me to my gravity. Oh well I guess I will just have to deal with the higher alcohol content...(life is hard sometimes:rolleyes:). any suggestions for accurately dialling in grain absorption vs tun dead space? I took pretty good notes on the mash so I hope I took the right notes to help me dial in my next brew.

I will provide tasting notes in a month or so if you guys want them.
Thanks :mug:
 
I like to mash at slightly lower temperatures when making a porter or stout. 151 to 153 is usually my target. It makes a few more unfermentable sugars that contribute to that "chewy" mouthfeel that I love in these kind of ales.

My only recommendation is to add your roasted malts to the mash immediately prior to sparging.
 
I like to mash at slightly lower temperatures when making a porter or stout. 151 to 153 is usually my target. It makes a few more unfermentable sugars that contribute to that "chewy" mouthfeel that I love in these kind of ales.

My only recommendation is to add your roasted malts to the mash immediately prior to sparging.

A couple of questions:

Why would you mash lower to get a fuller body beer? Everything I have read in books or on here say that higher mash temp produce more dextrins and "cheweyer" wort.

Why would you add the roast malt at the end of the sparge? I mashed my roast malt with the rest of my grist. I am just wondering what the benefit of this is.
 
Incase anyone who is subscribed cares....

The choc stout turned out great. Fermentation was a little weird with the US05 as the Krausen never fully fell. I left it in primary for 4 weeks and the grav stabilized at 1.017 after about 12 days. I have it force carbed at 9psi at 38 degrees. I let it warm up a little in the glass and I can taste very subtle bitter chocolate notes through the medium-full mouthfeel added by the oatmeal. There is a very good balance of roasted, chocolate, caramel, and acid notes with little to no hop bitterness detectable. Light lacing on the glass and a thin pale brown head. I am going to brew this again maybe with a British ale strain or 1056. Once I get the yeast figured out I think I will add this to my recipes tag.

Cheers :mug:
 
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